cheers! Can AI help drinkers buy better wine?

Artificial intelligence (AI) can’t taste or smell, at least not yet, but it’s now increasingly helping people buy decent wine.

Blake Hershey says the inspiration for Sippd, an AI-powered wine recommendation app, came from his wife.

One weekend she was out with friends and she kept messaging him from the restaurant asking for suggestions as he is the wine expert in their relationship.

Hershey said he saw the situation and realized there was a need for an easier way for people in restaurants, supermarkets and wine shops to choose their favorite bottle.

“Even with all this advances in technology, the process of flipping through a huge wine list filled with arcane wine jargon and not knowing what you like and giving up and asking the clerk for a recommendation still seems outdated to me. he says. he says.

So the idea for US-based Sippd was born, to release the app in the US in 2021. Now, other wine recommendation apps, such as his market leader Vivino, are increasingly incorporating his AI, but what sets Sippd apart is the technology from the start.

New users begin by taking an online wine quiz that analyzes wine preferences such as color, body, acidity, flavor, sweetness and price.

The app’s AI software then does the “heavy lifting”, generating thousands of personal wine recommendations called “taste matches.” These are rated as percentages, with a score of 100% for perfect matches.

Start scanning a wine list or label with your phone’s camera and Sippd will give you a taste match score for each bottle.

Sippd then continues learning as the user tells the app about buying wine. The goal is to make app-specific recommendations more accurate.

“Novice drinkers are generally overwhelmed with the sheer number of choices when buying wine and often have no idea where to learn their preferences for particular flavors, characteristics and styles.” he says.

“So our team developed an introductory quiz to give beginners an easy and friendly way to enter the vast world of wine.”

Currently only available in the US, Maryland-based Sippd currently has 100,000 users and the app is free to use. The business makes money by inviting people to buy recommended wines directly via the app and have them delivered.

In Norway, tech entrepreneur Nicholas Benz released the first version of FinpåVin, an AI-powered wine recommendation app, in 2020.

Benz describes AI as a “living, breathing thing” that learns from user preferences and constantly fine-tunes its recommendations.

The app currently only works with wines sold in Norwegian state-run alcohol stores, but Benz is looking into the possibility of expanding internationally.

He also now aims to train the AI ​​to “create a unique personality based on the characteristics of the wine,” he said, adding that he also aims to make the wine “conversational.” At least for the AI ​​to pretend to be talking wine.

“I am also developing a social network where wine is the star. With the help of AI, each wine will share social media content such as photos and text updates. Users can chat with wine to learn more about it. You can know.”

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But what do professional wine experts think about apps like this? Opinions vary.

“Overall, when used properly, I think it can be really good,” says Master of Wine John Downes, the industry’s highest-qualified holder. “These apps connect with people in the city in ways that often go wrong in the wine trade.

“They have great potential to help people and help them understand wine better.”

Wine writer Jamie Goode was much more critical, saying the wine app “promises a lot, but often fails to deliver.”

“The problem with adapting wine to the consumer is how to break it down into its components and understand its nature and qualities in a meaningful way that provides the data to work with in the app. ’ he asks.

“And how can an app know about the tens of thousands of different wines made each year, with dozens of vintage variations? Or visit our website for a selection of wines.”

Sandra Wachther is a professor of technology and regulation at the University of Oxford, researching the legal and ethical implications of AI. Given that she’s the world leader in her AI research, you might imagine she’d be all for her AI-powered wine app.

Rather, she says, this is an area where humans should really try to find good bottles on their own, without the help of technology. “In terms of smells, tastes, foods and drinks, rather than following recommendations, you may want to taste the grass yourself. [from an app].

“We may enjoy following our own eyes and noses, and cherish being surprised by food and drink. We see AI playing many exciting roles in our society.” But some areas of expertise may be best left to ourselves.”

Alicia Ortiz, Sippd’s head of marketing, countered that the app was only meant to help people, especially wine newbies, saying, “They can just drink and enjoy, but they’re rolling the dice.” I no longer have to spend time on unnecessary research.”